Stephanie Min-Jae Kim, Grade 11
UWCSEA (Dover)
I’m sick of it all. On the TV there are COVID-19 updates 24/7. In virtual math class, we model the course of the COVID-19 virus. With every blink of my cursor, my brain pulses with the thought ‘COVID-19’. I think we need a break.
No, I don’t mean a break from the virus. That’s something we can’t control, and it’s become a reality we must face. I mean we need a break from our screens.
As your typical teenager, I never thought the day would come that I got sick of staring at my screen. But, just like anything else special, it’s only special when it doesn’t last. Creme brulee might be your favourite dessert, but if gallons of creme brulee were thrust down your throat, would you love it all that much anymore?
My laptop is my creme brulee. My phone is my lava cake. My book is a glass of water that I crave to ease the nausea from having eaten too many sweets.
It’s great that we can continue our lives digitally. It allows us to stay engaged with our learning, hobbies, and social connections. But it also means that everyone’s average screen time is shooting up, which inevitably takes a toll on our mental health and psychological wellbeing.
We’re relying too heavily on screens for every aspect of our lives right now. Not that we have much choice, but staring into our screens for at least 7 hours a day for school plus the extra time we spend for entertainment, social interaction, and homework is bound to cause some kind of problem.
An increased amount of screen time has been associated on several occasions with depression and anxiety, particularly among teenagers. Now, I’m no expert, but it seems to me that at a time when our mental health is already collectively teetering with everything going on in the world and the stress of spending all-day-every-day with the same people in the same house, we are all at risk here.
It’s time that we all take our eyes off the screen and feed it new sights. Taking up something to stretch your brain is just as necessary as getting up from the chair to stretch your body. One positive that has come out of this lockdown is the fact that we spend far fewer hours on the road. The commute to school now takes a second instead of an hour. This leaves a lot of downtime for us. Use it wisely! Try to distance yourself from all the technology and spend some time offline. Read a book, learn an instrument, cook! I, for one, have used this time to rediscover my love of chess and sudoku, play ‘Dust in the Wind’ far too many times on my guitar, and cook for my family. Many health and fitness apps, though digital, are sharing content that would normally be paid for free, so it is the prime time to exercise, do yoga, and meditate.
It is going to be impossible to completely disconnect, and I am definitely not urging everyone to become hermits and emerge only when the lockdown ends. I just wanted to remind those of you that feel a headache coming on when you open your laptop that you are not alone and that there are many ways available to digitally distance yourself.
No, I don’t mean a break from the virus. That’s something we can’t control, and it’s become a reality we must face. I mean we need a break from our screens.
As your typical teenager, I never thought the day would come that I got sick of staring at my screen. But, just like anything else special, it’s only special when it doesn’t last. Creme brulee might be your favourite dessert, but if gallons of creme brulee were thrust down your throat, would you love it all that much anymore?
My laptop is my creme brulee. My phone is my lava cake. My book is a glass of water that I crave to ease the nausea from having eaten too many sweets.
It’s great that we can continue our lives digitally. It allows us to stay engaged with our learning, hobbies, and social connections. But it also means that everyone’s average screen time is shooting up, which inevitably takes a toll on our mental health and psychological wellbeing.
We’re relying too heavily on screens for every aspect of our lives right now. Not that we have much choice, but staring into our screens for at least 7 hours a day for school plus the extra time we spend for entertainment, social interaction, and homework is bound to cause some kind of problem.
An increased amount of screen time has been associated on several occasions with depression and anxiety, particularly among teenagers. Now, I’m no expert, but it seems to me that at a time when our mental health is already collectively teetering with everything going on in the world and the stress of spending all-day-every-day with the same people in the same house, we are all at risk here.
It’s time that we all take our eyes off the screen and feed it new sights. Taking up something to stretch your brain is just as necessary as getting up from the chair to stretch your body. One positive that has come out of this lockdown is the fact that we spend far fewer hours on the road. The commute to school now takes a second instead of an hour. This leaves a lot of downtime for us. Use it wisely! Try to distance yourself from all the technology and spend some time offline. Read a book, learn an instrument, cook! I, for one, have used this time to rediscover my love of chess and sudoku, play ‘Dust in the Wind’ far too many times on my guitar, and cook for my family. Many health and fitness apps, though digital, are sharing content that would normally be paid for free, so it is the prime time to exercise, do yoga, and meditate.
It is going to be impossible to completely disconnect, and I am definitely not urging everyone to become hermits and emerge only when the lockdown ends. I just wanted to remind those of you that feel a headache coming on when you open your laptop that you are not alone and that there are many ways available to digitally distance yourself.
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